Elegy

Even more than Schoenberg’s or Webern’s, Berg’s music made an enormous impact on me during the late 1950s and early 1960s when studying with Alexander Goehr. Work on this little piece was commenced on the 25th anniversary of Berg’s death, and to commemorate the first performance of his Piano Sonata in April 1911 it was first performed in April 1961, by the pianist and composer Madeleine Coates Russell at a our own ‘society for private performances’ in London. Its shape is simple - a stage-by-stage progression from slow and gentle to a dense climax at double speed, then a return to the spirit, if not the material, of the opening. Its public première, the first of any of mycompositions, was given by Susan Bradshaw at a Macnaghten Concert in November 1961. It was awarded Morley College’s Fricker Composition Prize. - Anthony Gilbert Recorded on Prima Facie PFCD007 'Piano Music' by Richard Casey/Ian Buckle. Duration: 2'30